


New York Minutes

by serohtonin



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-02
Updated: 2012-05-02
Packaged: 2017-11-25 22:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serohtonin/pseuds/serohtonin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three times Darren was in New York and called Chris.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New York Minutes

**Author's Note:**

> So, this happened months ago when the Snow Patrol song "New York" gave me CrissColfer feels and I am just getting around to posting it now. Sorry. Also, I don't know the particulars of Chris or Darren's 'Glee' contracts, and the 'Glee' concert tour happened in summer 2012 of this fic. As always, thanks Christine. :)
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own anyone mentioned herein and none of this has happened in real life. It is completely a product of my imagination. What happens in fandom, stays in fandom. Please don't share this outside of that.

The first call Darren made to Chris while Darren was in New York happened in early 2012, full of nerves, excitement and hope. It was one that would change the landscape of their relationship, for the better or for the worse. He wished it would be for the better.

He also wished that Chris would actually answer as his friend was getting back to work in Los Angeles.

It was 3 AM in New York, right around midnight in California, so maybe Chris would just have arrived home.

Darren couldn’t sleep, not yet.

Thankfully, Chris picked up on the second ring.

_“Hey stranger.”_

He could almost hear the smile in Chris’ voice.

“Hi.”

_“Not that I don’t appreciate the call and I know you don’t really sleep, but isn’t it a little late?”_

“Uh, I actually wanted to talk to you. Surprisingly, I missed you,” Darren joked.

_“Oh. Well, I kind of missed you too, even if you are obnoxious most of the time.”_

“Also, I wanted to tell you something.” Darren took a deep breath.

_“Yeah, what?”_

“Um, the show was amazing. When I wasn’t freaking out, it was kind of exhilarating. And I feel like I’m getting better every night. It’s fun to get back to that kind of atmosphere, where you can feel people responding.”

_“Mmm, yeah. I totally get it. I’ve been there. I mean, not on Broadway like you, Mr. Big Shot, but yeah, it does feel nice. I—”_

“Chris, I, I wish you could come. No pun intended.”

_“Oh my God, you are twelve. I wouldn’t have even thought that. I wish I could see it for myself as well. You sound tired, like you always do, but happy.”_

“Yeah, I am, both of those things. I am insanely happy, Chris. But I miss you.”

_“Darren?”_

“Yeah?”

_“Um, you already said that.”_

“Well, it’s still true. Look, Chris. What I really wanted to say is I want you to be there for me, forever.”

Darren was met with a pause so long that he thought Chris hung up.

“Chris?”

Still nothing.

“Chris?”

_“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”_

“Chris. Oh shit. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I mean I wanted to say that—”

_“Over the phone? Really?”_

“I, I couldn’t wait. I needed you to know. And, yeah, maybe I am dumb for doing it this way, because you deserve better. But I promise I will tell you everything and I’ll make it up to you when I get back, okay? Just so I’m clear on this, so we’re clear, I want to be with you. And I want you to be with me. Please.”

“Fuck you.”

“Uh, what?”

_“Your timing couldn’t be more terrible.”_

“Why?”

 _“Because I,”_ he heard Chris’ voice break, _“I really want to kiss you right now.”_

“Well, ‘fuck you’ wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for, but I’m glad you followed it with something positive,” Darren chuckled nervously. “And, like I said, I _swear_ I will make it up to you when I get back. I just couldn’t wait. Being away from you, it made me realize how much I fucking need you sometimes. I mean, with all the craziness. Not that my life wasn’t crazy before. I just mean in this past year so much has happened and you’ve been there and, yeah. I kind of need you.”

_“Now you’re being an asshole.”_

“I really want to hold you right now. Does that make me less of an asshole?”

_“No. Well, kind of, yes. I guess.”_

“Shit. I am such an idiot.”

_“Yes, yes you are.”_

“So, do you want me or not?”

_“Yeah, okay.”_

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic,” Darren laughed wryly.

_“I want you right now, you loser. I just told you I wanted to kiss you. What do you think?”_

“Um, I think that’s… really good. I didn’t want things to be weird between us. I’m so, so scared, Chris. I didn’t think I could do this while you were in front of me, especially if you said no.”

 _“But you’re never afraid of anything, especially rejection,”_ Chris whispers.

“Yeah, but, it’s you.”

_“Oh.”_

“Yeah. Well, maybe I should let you sleep. Early call times and all.”

_“Darren?”_

“Yeah?”

_“Stay with me? Right now, I mean.”_

“Of course.”

_“Hold on a sec.”_

Darren heard footsteps on the other end of the line and what sounded like the rustling of fabric.

_“Okay, I’m here.”_

They mostly enjoyed each other’s silence for about an hour, save for each other’s breathing and quiet confessions of infatuation. Darren stayed on the phone until he heard quiet snoring.

“Good night, Chris.”

 _“Wha'?”_ Darren could hear what sounded like Chris’ lips smacking on the other end. _“'m not sleepin', I swear!”_

“Liar. ‘Night, Chris,” he whispered, softly laughing.

_“’Night, Dare.”_

\---

Darren was in New York again during the summer of 2012, and this call to Chris was entirely unnecessary. Even so, after three rings, Darren still held out for Chris to answer.

He heard a sigh and then:

_“Hello?”_

“Hi,” Darren replied flirtatiously. They had been together for a few months and though he flirted with Chris even before then, he never tired of doing so.

_“Why are you calling me?”_

“Uh, because you’re awesome and I really, really like you.”

_“Dork. You’re drunk.”_

“Drunk on looove.” Darren waggled his eyebrows though he knew Chris couldn’t see. “And how could I be drunk? We just got offstage, like, an hour ago.”

 _“Oh my God. I don't know what you slip in your water bottles when I'm not looking. Maybe I won’t come back. Maybe I’ll just sleep in Dianna’s bed. She loves the way I spoon. In fact, she once told me I was the best she ever had. Right, Di?”_ Chris yells the question.

“Chrisssss,” Darren whined, “come to bed. Please. Also, you would know if I had anything in those bottles since you share them with me.” He heard Dianna’s voice faintly in the background, _‘it’s true.I do love the way he spoons.’_

_“Point taken, but I’m right down the hall. You see me onstage every night. Isn’t that enough?”_

“As long as we’re on tour, it is both pleasure and sheer torture to watch you perform your ass off.” His voice lowered as he asked, “Why don’t you give me a private show, Mr. Colfer?”

“Darren,” Chris warned. _“I will be there, in, like, two minutes, okay?”_

“Alright. Make it quick. I may or may not already be naked.”

Darren hung up, laughing. Though he was joking, he seriously considered taking off his clothes. He felt a pang of arousal simply imagining Chris in those tight jeans, shaking his hips and his ass, because, of course, he totally snuck peeks during the show. How could he not? Chris’ stupidly hot body was practically in his face sometimes.

He was mostly content with waiting until Chris returned, but knowing how Chris’ bare ass felt in his hands, how those hips would writhe above him or buck under him made it extremely difficult not to just start jerking off right then.

Thankfully, as he reached into his boxers, the door slammed.

“Welcome home, honey,” Darren uttered when he saw Chris in the doorway.

“That’s it. You’re _so_ not getting any.”

But Chris strode toward their bed and climbed on top of Darren.

“For calling you an affectionate pet name? That’s not fair. Besides, I _so am._ You can’t resist me.”

“Don’t be so confident,” he whispered in Darren’s ear. “I can just let you finish up there, you know.” Chris’ hand brushed over Darren’s underwear.

“Chris. _You wouldn’t._ ”

“Oh yes, I would.” Chris kissed his neck. “You won’t take long anyway.”

“I’m insulted, Christopher,” he breathed sharply.

“Oh, you know it’s true.” Chris’ hand slipped under Darren’s shirt. “I bet you’re close right now,” he whispered in Darren’s ears.

“Help me out then. Please,” Darren practically begged as he started pumping his fist around his cock.

“Hmm. I don’t know.” He pulled back to look at the other man’s face. “You’re kind of hot like this.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Yeah, you will. I know you will.” He slid Darren’s shirt up, exposing his slightly toned torso, and wetly mouthed at his stomach.

“I sort of hate you right now,” Darren’s breath stuttered again, “except I don’t really.”

“Nice recovery there, Criss,” the younger man paused to utter between kisses. He dipped his hand into Darren’s boxers. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Holy fuck, yes.”

\---

In the summer of 2014, Darren found himself on Broadway yet again. Unfortunately, Chris couldn’t be there as he was shooting a film in L.A. Darren understood. Hell, he probably understood more than most people would have, but he was still disappointed.

So, once he knew both their schedules, he reacted in a way he shouldn’t have. They argued the week before Darren left and barely spoke to each other after that. He replayed the conversation in his head:

_“I’ll miss you when you’re gone,” were the first words out of Chris’ mouth that morning as he stood facing the kitchen counter and away from Darren. He was already dressed and waiting for his toast to cook._

_Darren looked up from his cereal and smiled sadly at that, as Chris wasn’t normally prone to expressing emotion out loud like that very often.“Well, I suppose that’s sort of a good thing. I’d be more concerned if you didn’t miss me.”_

_Chris stared pointedly. “You’re not helping.”_

_The elder stood up and wrapped his arms around Chris’ waist from behind. “Aww, I’m sorry, honey.”_

_“Don’t ‘honey’ me,” Chris sucked in a breath as Darren kissed the side of his neck. “Besides, pet names are, are dorky.”_

_“Well, what do you expect? This is_ me, _remember? ‘Honey’ is not as bad as some other names I’ve called you, I might add.”_

_He turned his head toward Darren and smirked. “Very true, and you are the dorkiest of all dorks.”_

_“Sorry to ruin the mood but you know, work,” Darren sighed, his hands running up and down Chris’ sides. “We still have this week together and then I’ll be back soon enough. It’s only a limited engagement. Granted it’s longer than last time but—”_

_“I can’t come see you. You know, work.” Then it was Chris’ turn to sigh. His exhalation punctuated the silence in the room._

_“Fuck, Chris. This time I really thought you would. This sucks. Remember you told me—”_

_“I know what I said, Darren.” Chris turned in his arms, made eye contact for a second, and then looked away. “That was over two years ago. We were just figuring things out then. I didn’t know when you’d make it back or what I’d be doing when you did, or even if we’d be anything to each other.”_

_Darren clutched Chris’ face, forcing the other man to look at the sincerity in his hazel eyes. “Chris, you will always mean something to me. If I somehow manage to screw this up, us I mean, I would still want you to be there, okay? I said I’d want you there for me and I meant it.” He let go of Chris and turned away. “And now, just…fuck.”_

_He didn’t know why he felt so irrationally upset. It wouldn’t be the first time either of them couldn’t attend an event in support of the other. He supposed that now that the end of their time on ‘Glee’ seemed nearer, they would eventually see each other less and less and their professional projects could pull them apart. He’d seen it happen with other couples, with their own friends’ relationships. Plus, this was Broadway and though it was Darren’s second go at it, he really wanted, maybe even needed Chris to be there, since he hadn’t been the last time._

_“I know. I could–”_

_“No, don’t, Chris. I know how important this project is.”_

_As much as he needed Chris, he still couldn’t take him away from something he really cared about. He didn’t want to force Chris to choose between ‘The Land of Stories’ and him._

_He also knew that he probably wouldn’t win out in that decision._

_“You’ll literally be watching this story you wrote as a kid come to life in front of you. I can’t take that away from you. You’re mostly supervising, but I know it’ll be amazing. You’ll be amazing.”_

_“You will be, too.”_

_“Move in with me.”_

_“What?”_

_Darren simply blurted it out, apropos of nothing. It was something he’d been thinking about for a while, but in that moment he realized he didn’t want to be without Chris longer than absolutely necessary. Besides, they spent most of the free time they did have together, and it was split between both their places. Yeah, their lives were transient and they might be away from each other a lot, but Chris had come to feel like that steady and sure place that Darren could turn to when the world felt like it was spinning too fast and everything threatened to collapse. He knew he wanted to keep those feelings as close as possible. Being with Chris always made Darren want things he didn’t think he would want, like maybe settling in somewhere, really making a place that he lived in feel like home._

_“Or I could move in here, or we could start looking when–”_

_“No, Darren.”_

_“What?”_

_“Are you insane?”_

_“Okay, not the reaction I was expecting. Why not?”_

_“Things are fine the way they are. Besides, I don’t know if we’re there yet.”_

_“Not there yet? Chris, I’m almost always here, or you’re over at mine. It’s been over a year. People who have known each other for way less time have moved in together.”_

_“Well, I’m not_ ‘people.’ _”_

_“I know and that’s kind of why I love you.”_

_“Oh, do not play the ‘I love you’ card. That’s, like, your reason for everything whenever you don’t know what else to say.”_

_“Can’t that be enough?”_

_They were looking at each other then._

_Chris fell silent for what seemed like an eternity. Then he finally spoke. “I wish it was.”  
With that, the younger man walked out of the kitchen and left his breakfast to burn._

_Darren stood there, confused. Chris’ words hinted at something more but he had learned that when Chris got angry or distant, sometimes it was best to wait out the storm and let him be, so he simply let Chris walk out the door without any further discussion._

The rest of that week felt strained in a way that their relationship had never been before. Darren wanted to say something, wanted to fix it before he left but he didn’t want to push Chris into shutting down, which was prone to happen.

The ride to the airport was silent and Darren gave Chris a quick kiss goodbye as he departed.

That was nearly a month ago. They had sent texts to each other at least once daily but didn’t address their argument.

So Darren decided he had to call Chris to resolve everything.

He waited and waited for an answer but there was none.

It went to voicemail.

He toyed with leaving a message, but he knew he should probably wait and not say what he needed to say via a recording.

He tried again a couple hours later, and still no answer.

“Shit.”

A few hours after that, he decided to go for a walk and call Chris one more time. It rang three times and Darren prepared himself to leave a voicemail. Though he really didn’t want to do that, he was exasperated and wanted to resolve everything with Chris.

But then:

_“Hello?”_

“Chris…”

 _“Darren,”_ he replied flatly.

“I,” Darren audibly exhaled as he walked along the city street, “I’m sorry. I was so fucking dumb. I shouldn’t have asked you when I knew you weren’t ready.”

_“Yes. You were dumb.”_

Darren opened his mouth to speak, but Chris quickly cut him off.

 _“But so was I,”_ the younger man sighed. _“It’s not unreasonable to ask me to live with you.”_

“You move in with me, I move in with you. Whatever, I don’t care, Chris. I just want to be with you. I want whatever you want, in this case at least. If you’re really not ready, I under–”

_“I am. Ready, I mean. I freaked out because it’s, well, it’s a lot to take in. I never imagined this would happen, especially with you. And I’m still, I’m still afraid that it isn’t real, that we could be over at any moment because it’s too good. It’s really great and I’ve never had anything like this, with anyone. No one I could really rest my head on, except for the last few years, and I’m still trying to get used to it.”_

“Chris…”

_“I, I’d never thought I’d have you.”_

“But you do. And you will.”

_“Aww, and I lost the receipt so I can’t return you. Guess I’m stuck.”_

Darren smiled, staring out at the neon brightening in front of him as the night started to roll in. It was so like Chris to diffuse any emotional situation with humor, which Darren always thought was adorable. It was also one of the qualities they shared.

“Even so, I’m sure that thing’s expired so you couldn’t return me anyway.” The older man took a breath. “I love you.”

 _“Love you, too,”_ Chris answered after a brief pause. _“I’m sorry that I made saying that sound like a bad thing. You’re just better at that stuff, at saying what you’re thinking and feeling.And I’m glad you’re not afraid to say it after the way I acted.”_

“I would _never_ be afraid to tell you that anymore. It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay that you brushed it away like that, but I know how you feel, even if you hardly ever tell me. Hey, next time, I promise not to fly thousands of miles away and not make up with you.”

_“You’re just saying that ‘cause now we can’t have make-up sex.”_

“Yeah, maybe,” Darren joked.

Darren decided to turn back to his apartment, relieved and suddenly very tired.

_“Guess what?”_

He trod down the street, entered the doors of his building, and hurried up his stairs, eager to be home. Well, his New York home. The one without Chris.

Or maybe not, because outside his door stood a very familiar figure.

_“I’m here. I took a few days leave from the set.”_

Still in shock, Darren half-believed he was hallucinating from lack of sleep and kept talking on the phone. “Chris, you didn’t have to—”

“Yeah, I did,” Chris replied and then hung up his phone, staring at Darren’s parted lips. “I said I would. Don’t you remember? And I did, albeit two years later, but I did.”

Darren strode over to Chris’ waiting arms. “You’re really here.”

Chris hugged him tightly, burying his face in Darren’s neck. He placed a kiss at the crook and started to kiss up the side of Darren’s neck. Then he reached his jaw, and finally lingered at his partner’s lips. After a minute or so, Chris pulled back to look at Darren. “Um, I don’t actually have a ticket to the show. Do you happen to know anyone who can get me in?” Chris smirked, his eyes crinkling.

“I’m sure I can work something out. Sexual favors are always enjoyed.”

Chris slapped Darren’s arm. “Darren! Just invite me in.”

“Gladly. You know, normally I don’t take strange men home with me, but I’ll make an exception this one time.”

“Well, I love you too, Darren,” he quipped.

Darren fumbled for his key and put it in the lock, unwilling to let go of Chris. “I know you do.” He gave Chris a toothy smile, then opened the door.

Darren ushered Chris in, backed him against the door, and pushed their bodies flush together.

“So…”

“So,” Chris whispered back, once again staring at Darren’s lips.

“What,” Darren’s mouth lingered at the base of Chris’ neck, “do you,” he placed a kiss there, “suggest,” he kissed along the pale column of skin, “we do,” he sucked on Chris’ earlobe, “now?”

“Uh, bed,” was all the younger man could utter.

Darren gripped Chris’ hips. “How about wall? The wall’s good too, no?”

Before Chris could answer, Darren kissed him fiercely and bit his lower lip.

Chris pushed him back with his hands to Darren’s chest. “No, ‘hi, how are you? Nice to see you’?”

Darren smiled and grabbed Chris’ hands. “This is my greeting. Are you not pleased?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Talk later, okay? I really miss you right now.” Darren’s mouth landed on the other side of Chris’ neck.

“Oh, I see why you want to live with me, so I can be your,” Chris’ breath hitched, “your sex slave?”

“Uh huh. That is a wonderful idea.” Darren let go of Chris’ hands and snaked his own hands under Chris’ shirt. “Can you stop talking?”

Chris clasped his hands around Darren’s neck, kissed him and sucked on his upper lip in answer before pulling away to speak. “I thought you were normally the one who couldn’t stop talking.”

“Right. So you’re disrupting the balance.” Darren lifted Chris’ shirt and the taller man obliged him in removing the offending material.

Darren slid down Chris’ body and began mouthing at the skin above the waistband of his jeans.  
Chris grabbed at Darren’s curls. “Um, and, um, I will gladly continue to do so as long as you do that. _Ohhhh._ ”

And then Darren showed Chris just how much he missed him, with his mouth, his hands and his heart.


End file.
